In the far corner of the kitchen, Kai was looming near a quietly giggling Kiku as she leaned against the fridge. The pair were completely oblivious to the fact that someone was observing them, much to Nya's amusement. She stood there with one hand on her hip and waited for them to notice her, but they were too busy flirting. After a few minutes went by, without so much as a superficial glance her way, Nya cleared her throat, startling the two of them.

"Ahem…"

"Good morning, Nya," Kiku chirped somewhat nervously. "how are you?"

"Fine thanks, just keeping an eye on Pixal," Nya smirked. "she's in the living room."

"Oh, she's awake?" Kiku noted. "I'm gonna go say hi."

Kiku gave Kai a coquettish wink and cantered through the doorway. Once she was gone, Kai looked at his sister with a guilty smile.

"So, what's up?" He asked as nonchalantly as possible.

"I knew there was something going on." Nya stated smugly.

"There's nothing 'going on', I'm just being friendly." Kai denied with a shrug.

"Sure, I mean, I flirt with all my friends too." Nya snarked.

"Why is everyone on my back about being nice to Kiku? It's getting old…" Kai said in annoyance. "Yeah, she made some mistakes, but she's different now, and she's trying to make up for it."

"No one's denying that she's trying to be better, but your idea of 'being nice' looks an awful lot like trying to get in Kiku's pants," Nya mentioned. "especially after what I just walked into – she was almost pinned to the fridge, that's how close you were!"

"Did it occur to you that maybe she likes being flirted with?" Kai countered.

"Oh, my gods Kai, you're so full of yourself," Nya rolled her eyes. "not every girl you hit on is gonna be thrilled that you're hitting on them."

"She's a droid, Nya, if she didn't want me that close, she easily has the strength to yeet me across the room," Kai elaborated. "did you see her yeeting me across the room? No."

Kai walked past his sister, who was unable to argue with his logic, with a satisfied grin on his face. He meandered into the living room, where he was pleased to see the two droid sisters happily chatting among themselves. It was a far cry from the incident a couple days ago.

"Hello Kai," Pixal smiled. "how are you today?"

"I'm good, how's your head?" He responded.

"Much better, thank you," She nodded. "knowing that you were looking after my sister likely aided my recovery."

"I told Pixal that you said I could call your room 'ours'," Kiku blushed. "it makes me feel at home."

"It is most kind of you to accept her to that extent." Pixal agreed.

"She needed someone to lean on, and I'm happy to be that someone." Kai sheepishly noted.

"Kiku, be a dear and see if Nya is okay, she went to get some honey for her drink and she hasn't returned." Pixal requested.

"Sure thing!" Kiku got up and wandered back to the kitchen.

Pixal looked up at Kai with a pleasant grin.

"Come, sit beside me."

"Uh, okay," He said, sitting next to her on the sofa.

Her sweet smile faded, and a dark expression overcame her.

"I know what you have done, Kai." Pixal whispered as she dug her sharp nails into his leg.

"Ah!" Kai winced at the pain. "What do you mean?"

"You deflowered my sister…" She hissed.

"I would never-"

"Do not attempt to bluff with me, you… filthy beast," She growled. "I scanned her just now, and I know you marked her."

All the colour drained from Kai's face, as Pixal's green eyes briefly flashed red. She removed her nails from his leg, and he rubbed the area to try and soothe the pain.

"It's not like I took it by force," He quietly argued. "I left the decision up to her, because I know the whole thing happened so fast."

"Thing?"

"I like your sister, okay? I mean, I really like her," Kai confessed. "and I know that me liking her as much as I do is ridiculously sudden, so I understand if you don't approve."

"And who says that I do not approve?" Pixal wondered.

"What the- you just stabbed me in the leg with those talons of yours!" Kai stammered. "To me that screams 'disapproval'!"

"I disapprove of how quickly you seduced her; three days is a record, even for you," Pixal corrected. "but your biometrics indicate your affection to be genuine, so I cannot disapprove of that."

"Thank you," Kai sighed in relief. "I want you to know that I'm for real about Kiku – this isn't a conquest or a one-time thing, she just makes me feel…"

"Complete? As though you found a piece you did not realize was missing?" Pixal interrupted.

"Well... yeah, kinda," Kai tilted his head. "how did you guess?"

Pixal's expression melted into one of softness and adoration.

"It is how I feel about Zane," She replied with a half-smile. "I am aware that you and my sister are in the early stages of affection, and nowhere near the point of 'going steady', but... I am glad that you are her first."

Kai smiled at her as she stood up.

"Oh, and fair warning; if you hurt her, I will personally hunt you down and inflict so much damage that even your name will bleed." She cheerily declared, walking away toward the kitchen.

He sat there wide-eyed, wondering when Pixal had become so temperamental. She was usually a very patient, kind, and reserved individual, but since Kiku arrived, she'd been unpredictable to say the least. The girls had apparently moved their conversation to the kitchen, as none of them had returned and he could hear the general rumbling of chatter and giggles.

Kai got up and made his way upstairs, and as he reached the top, he saw Lloyd coming out of his room.

"Oh, Kai," Lloyd spoke. "I thought you were out training with Kiku."

It didn't escape Kai's notice that Lloyd said Kiku's name with slight annoyance.

"Sensei said he needed to run some errands for the stealth part of her training," Kai explained. "so, we came back early; she's with Pixal and Nya in the kitchen."

"Okay…" Lloyd hesitated. "Uh, listen, can we talk?"

"Sure, what about?"

"Not here, somewhere private." Lloyd insisted.

"We'll go to our room," Kai offered. "come on."

"Our room?" Lloyd baited as he followed Kai.

"Yeah, mine and Kiku's," Kai stated. "I told her that my room is hers too, so she feels more wanted."

Lloyd felt a pang of guilt, as they walked into the bedroom and Kai closed the door behind him. Kai sat on the bed and Lloyd sat next to him.

"So, what did you wanna talk about?" Kai asked.

"Um, well, I wanted to talk about us…" Lloyd muttered.

"Do you mean like, as friends or as teammates?"

"No, like…" Lloyd trailed off, hoping Kai would figure it out.

He did, and his face furrowed in irritation.

"You've gotta be kidding me..." Kai shook his head. "You haven't said one damn word about 'us' since we sat in that hotel bathtub drinking beer, so why are you bringing it up now?"

"Because it seems like you're finally getting over Skylor," Lloyd fibbed. "you haven't mentioned her for ages, and I thought maybe-"

"Don't give me that garbage," Kai barked. "I gave up on Skylor almost a year ago, if this was really about her you would've said something sooner."

"As if it's that easy to talk about this stuff!" Lloyd snapped back. "Do you have any idea how difficult it was for me to adjust to being bi?"

"For you?" Kai yelled. "Like you're the only one who had to confront their sexuality after that night?!"

"Apparently, I was, since you were back to flirting with every girl you saw without hesitation!"

"What else could I do when you refused to discuss it?" Kai paused as a realisation dawned on him. "Wait a minute... this isn't about me, or you, or Skylor... this is about Kiku, isn't it?"

Lloyd hesitated for a few seconds too long, and Kai immediately knew he was right.

"Let me guess, you're only coming to me now because me and Kiku are getting on a little too well for your liking, huh?" Kai surmised. "There was no hurry to speak to me before because there were no rivals for you to worry about; now that there's someone right here who likes me, suddenly you need to talk to me about this."

"Don't put words in my mouth, Kai," Lloyd warned. "the timing is awkward, I'll admit that, but I still have feelings for you, doesn't that mean anything?"

"Awkward? What's awkward is your decision to keep me dangling for a whole year, only to come at me because someone else is sniffing around in your 'territory'."

"How are we supposed to have a mature discussion when you're reacting like this?" Lloyd sighed.

"You're one to talk about maturity, you didn't even go through puberty the way the rest of us did – that Tomorrow Tea might have aged you biologically, but in here-" Kai roughly jabbed Lloyd in the forehead. "you're still several years behind, and it shows; acting like a kid who only wants a toy because someone else has it."

"This conversation is obviously going nowhere," Lloyd declared as he stood up in a huff. "I'll try again when you're not so grumpy."

"And this is exactly what I'm talking about; when something doesn't go the way you want, you walk away from it," Kai gestured with his hand. "do everyone a favour and grow the hell up."

Lloyd stormed out of the room, and a few moments later, Kai heard a door slam shut. At first, he felt bad – the whole thing with the Tomorrow Tea was hardly by choice, and it can't be easy to find yourself suddenly several years older – but it was obvious that Lloyd was trying to have his cake and eat it; happy to keep their association casual until a romantic rival appeared, then he suddenly wanted Kai for himself.

"He needs to pick a lane and stick to it." Kai said aloud.

"Who are you talking about?"

Kai turned to see Kiku in the doorway.

"Hey Flower," He smiled demurely. "are you okay?"

"I heard shouting," She replied in a concerned tone. "I just wanted to check in and see if you were alright."

"Wow, I guess the walls are thinner than I thought!" He joked as he approached her and pulled her into his warm embrace.

"We all heard the door slamming, but I'm the only one who heard the shouting," She tapped on one of her horns. "that's why I came up, I was worried in case it was something serious."

"I'm fine," He gently kissed her cheek. "Lloyd was being a big baby, that's all."

"I'm sorry if I'm driving a wedge between you two..."

"Don't apologize, there was already a wedge before you got here," He assured. "and the only one driving it is him."

It was a couple hours after dinner, and everyone on the team was playing the new game that Jay had pre-ordered. Well, almost everyone. Lloyd was still stewing in his room, having refused to come down to eat. Zane, knowing that he was a neutral party, had taken the green ninja's dinner up for him so he wouldn't miss out, but now he was missing out on the fun.

"Woo! Shake it!" Jasper whistled, having a swig of gin.

"Calm down, babe, you'll distract her." Cole chuckled.

The game turned out to be the latest edition of a rhythm dance series, and currently Pixal was doing a solo song. Owing to the nature of the song, there was a lot of twirling and hip shaking involved, which was stoking Jasper's fire because it was one of her favourites.

Jasper had never stayed at the temple before, and she normally didn't get to see Cole more than a couple times a week, but she was technically on a work trip, with the ninja being her first port of call.

She was tasked with visiting all the elemental masters in person, to invite them to take part in the museum's charity pin-up calendars, but Cole didn't like the idea of her going alone. Despite Lloyd's reluctant attitude, the others had all voted to be involved in the project, so they agreed that Cole should go with Jasper as a representative; mainly for protection, but also to give the concept more credence. Wu said she could come over for dinner and stay overnight, then both of them would head out in the morning.

"It was nice of your Sensei to let me sleep over," Jasper smiled. "I've never stayed in such a historical building before; my apartment complex is super modern."

"It's nice but it takes some getting used to," Jay laughed. "like, it gets a bit too hot in the summer sometimes."

"Which is where my powers become especially useful." Zane added.

The song was coming to an end, and right at the last second, Pixal hit the 'megastar' rank. Everyone cheered, as it was such a narrow squeak and she had never played this kind of game before. She blushed a little and handed the wand-shaped controller to Jasper, who excitedly jumped up and began flicking through the track list.

"Oh, I love this song!" Jasper squeaked as she landed on a particular one. "It's a duet, anyone wanna jump on with me?"

"Go on," Kai whispered, nudging Kiku. "you'd be good at this."

"Nah, I'm okay just watching." Kiku replied shyly.

Cole grabbed the second controller and stood up to do the song with his girlfriend. They each selected one of the on-screen dancers and pressed the start button at the same time.

Kiku watched them in awe as they moved together seamlessly, hitting every beat with astonishing accuracy. Then she glanced at Kai, who was smiling as he bopped his head to the song and occasionally shouted encouragement to his teammate. She tapped him on the arm.

"You okay Flower?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm just wondering if… you wanted to do a song with me?" She stammered.

"Changed your mind, huh?"

Kiku enthusiastically nodded.

"Sure thing," He smiled, raising his arm in the air. "dibs on the next go!"

Kai heard his smartphone make a noise, and he took out of his pocket. On the screen was a text… from Lloyd.

[Hey, you got a minute?] it read.

Kai made a disapproving face and typed back a response.

[What for?]

[I want to apologise, but I don't wanna ruin the fun everyone's having]

[If you really want to apologise, you'll come down and do it; don't cop out with an excuse that dumb]

He felt someone poking him in the forehead and looked up to see Cole jabbing him with the controller.

"Hey, it's your turn." Cole stated.

"Oh, thanks." Kai responded, shoving his phone back in his pocket and taking the controller.

Kiku was already standing in front of the console, flicking through the songs rather half-heartedly. Kai got up and stood beside her.

"So, got a song in mind?" He asked.

"Not really, but I kinda don't know what I'm looking for…" She lamented.

"There's a lot of duets to choose from," He noted. "just keep scrolling and I'll pick one for us."

She continued scrolling, going a little slower so Kai could see all the song titles and make a decision. Kiku glanced at him as he studied the screen intently; he seemed to be putting a lot of thought into this, and she wondered if she was going to use his choice to make a subtle statement to the others.

"That one!" He suddenly said.

Kiku looked at the screen and began to blush as she saw the title of the song: 'Let Me Love You'. She peered at him in her peripheral vision, to see an adoring smile beaming back at her. She giggled nervously as they selected their dancers and started the song.

As she followed the avatar on the screen, she could feel herself relaxing. This dance game was actually a lot of fun, and pretty easy to play; she managed to hit all of the marks, and it looked like Kai was enjoying himself too. The only time she faltered was when the avatars faced each other, and Kai mouthed to her 'let me love you' in time with the song. It threw her off a little, but she bounced back quickly. All too soon, the dance was over, and they both reached the 'superstar' rank.

"You did really well." He beamed at her.

"Thank you…"

"Kiku, stay there, I want to do a song with you." Pixal said as her sister went to hand the controller to someone else.

Kai gave Pixal his controller and the two droids began the search for another track to dance to. From the corner of his eye, Kai spotted a flash of green in the hallway, and went out to investigate. As expected, Lloyd was there, looking pretty sheepish.

"So, you decided to come down, huh?" Kai noted, crossing his arms. "You're braver than I thought – I was sure you'd stay upstairs stewing."

"I had a lot of time to think, and I wanted to say that I'm sorry for leaving you hanging all this time."

Kai raised an eyebrow in anticipation, as Lloyd looked him in the eyes and spoke sincerely.

"It was really immature of me to assume you'd always be there waiting for me to make my mind up, and it was even more childish to suddenly get territorial because of Kiku," Lloyd admitted. "I'm sorry I made things weird, and I promise I'll apologise to Kiku for being so snappy with her."

"Does this mean you're over me now?" Kai baited.

"No," Lloyd sighed. "I still have feelings for you, and it hurts to know that I've lost you to someone else, but it's my own fault so I'll just have to deal with it."

"Even if I hadn't gotten involved with someone else, we both gotta accept that this-." Kai gestured between Lloyd and himself. "-would've been very wrong, on a lot of levels, and chasing it could upend our lives."

"It's strange, because I always saw you as a brother figure, in a more literal way than how we refer to the other guys as brothers," Lloyd explained. "I don't know when it changed into something more."

There was a moment of mildly awkward silence.

"You were right, I was behaving like a little kid, and I need to be better than that." Lloyd stated.

"Looks like you did some growing up after all, I'm proud of you," Kai said as he offered a half-smile. "now come on, you're like 3 songs behind everyone else..."